Stu Smith Profile picture
Investigative Analyst @ManhattanInst 🏛️ Dragging radicalism & extremism out of the shadows and onto the public record 🥷 TCB⚡Views My Own 🧠
Jun 8 4 tweets 2 min read
I would love to be a fly on the wall for this event happening today in Seattle, hosted by Seattle Revolutionary Youth.

What makes this group especially wild is that they openly try to recruit kids as young as middle schoolers.

As you can see from the framing, “Why is revolution inevitable?,” this is not exactly subtle. It looks like a gateway into much crazier politics and a pretty obvious attempt to groom young kids into radicals.Image I would also wager this is being held at a public library, which gives younger attendees the easiest possible cover story: “I’m just going to the library after school.”

These youth activist groups in Seattle routinely use libraries and other public spaces for events like this, which makes the whole thing look much more normal and accessible to kids than it really should be.Image
Jun 7 4 tweets 2 min read
🚨 Why Is Sanctioned Iranian State Media Filming in Washington, D.C.?

Not to be a stickler for the rules, but Press TV has been sanctioned since September 2023, so I find it pretty remarkable to see a PressTV branded microphone operating in Washington, D.C. while interviewing American far-left activists.

Mind you, this does not automatically prove a sanctions violation. Protected speech is still protected. But things get much murkier if any U.S. person is providing services that help Press TV create content after its designation.

And one of the people being interviewed here is Ermiya Fanaeian, a National Network on Cuba co-chair who has also been involved with Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Armed Queers SLC. Armed Queers SLC later drew scrutiny in connection with the investigation into Tyler Robinson, the alleged Charlie Kirk assassin.

At minimum, this raises some serious questions worth asking. Who is operating Press TV-branded interviews inside Washington, D.C., and is anyone in the United States helping a sanctioned Iranian state media outlet create content? Everything you need to know about Fanaeian is in this clip, bragging about how these Cuba delegations leveled up “her” organizing game.

Actually, scratch that. I’ve got an even spicier clip for you.
Jun 5 5 tweets 3 min read
🧵 Two graphics from the new @ncri_io report on Medea Benjamin and her $48 million foundation have been stuck in my head.

The report, Following the Benjamins, maps an alleged Iran-aligned influence network operating outside state oversight in Florida, including the money flows, organizational ties, and documented Press TV contact with U.S.-based activists.

One graphic shows the broader financial and activist network. The other shows how many documented calls various American activists received from Iranian state media.Image
Image
@ncri_io Here is John Parker, who reportedly fielded 57 calls from PressTV, speaking with Maduro.

Parker keeps running for office on California’s Peace and Freedom Party ballot, and on Tuesday he lost yet another race, this time in the primary for District 37.
Jun 2 7 tweets 5 min read
🧵 Cox Media heir Fergie Chambers says his job is to move his family’s wealth into revolutionary organizing.

That made him a target for Neville Roy Singham’s network, which tried to bring him into its orbit with plans for what Chambers described as a “second People’s Forum.”

But the relationship blew up over differing views on the necessity of direct action, leading Fergie to start spilling secrets about what he says sits at the center of the entire Singham network, the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

If you want the juicy details of what it’s like to be courted by the Singham network, and why Fergie may have just shown Congress where to investigate next, go read my latest at @CityJournal! This was an insanely fun piece to write, but it had to be written for readers who may not know every name in the Singham orbit. Click through the links, because Fergie’s tweets are the real treasure map here. Enjoy!
city-journal.org/article/jim-fe…
May 31 6 tweets 3 min read
🚨 Hasan’s Marxist Agitprop Masterclass

Everything about this superclip is mandatory viewing if you want to understand DSA and Hasan’s alliance with the organization.

First, DSA is not framed as some slightly more progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Hasan describes it as “directionally on the diametrical opposite side of the political spectrum” from the “liberal capitalist Democratic Party.”

Second, Hasan zeroes in on what he sees as the problem with Americans. They “do not have class consciousness” and “do not have political education.” And without those things, “you can’t have organizing on the basis of class.”

So what is the solution for Hasan?

“To foment class consciousness and to engage in agitative propaganda, as is the Marxist tradition.”

He then says elections are “one of the most viable routes to reach the masses.”

In other words, when DSA candidates go on Hasan’s stream, this is not a standard interview. He sees it as part of the Marxist tradition of agitprop, using his platform to create political action, build class consciousness, and bring people into DSA.

Third, he is completely right about the DSA growth model. He says that whenever you get “an AOC style figure or Zahra Mamdani,” DSA’s ranks “explode” with new paying members.

And fourth, the caucus part is hilarious. Hasan explains that DSA is “a massive institution with many different caucuses,” all “constantly fighting one another.” But when asked to choose between them, he says it is like “picking favorite children.”

I don’t think Hasan is alone in giving a blanket answer like that, but if DSA were principled, it would have to grapple with the fact that the organization has some genuinely insane caucuses, including ones that have put out statements in support of Elias Rodriguez. I would say Liberation Caucus is probably the craziest caucus inside DSA.

And here is Hasan with DSA Emerge, another DSA caucus that “just likes a little bit of Mao.”
May 28 10 tweets 5 min read
🧵 One of DSA’s top national figures, National Political Committee co-chair Ashik Siddique, sat down with Brazil’s Perseu Abramo Foundation and laid out a pretty clear vision for where DSA sees itself right now.

DSA is an organization waiting to become a political party in all but name, building local political machines across the country while using elected office and street movements to create conflict with Democrats, Republicans, corporations, and billionaires.

DSA candidates should “stand up with movements on the streets,” members should remain “agitational,” and the organization should be willing to antagonize Democratic officials like New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Understandably, DSA sees the election of Zohran Mamdani in New York City as a huge victory. But Siddique really hammers that NYC DSA is also the model to replicate in all 50 states because it did not even exist nine years ago.

The future Siddique painted is one where DSA forces its way into power by playing foil to both Democrats and Republicans, while slowly building the infrastructure and elected bloc of a national political party. What Siddique is describing here is DSA’s inside/outside strategy.

On the outside, you have the movement: the activists, the street pressure, the screaming protesters, and the DSA machine keeping the demands alive.

On the inside, you have Zohran smiling, negotiating, and asking nicely.

It is basically political good cop, bad cop.

Mamdani can maintain the polite public relationship with Gov. Kathy Hochul, while DSA keeps “agitating” and being “very antagonistic” toward her from the outside.
May 27 10 tweets 5 min read
🧵 I watched Hasan’s Cuba doc so you don’t have to

A regular Hasan viewer asked me to watch his Cuba documentary, seemingly because it would change my mind. It actually did the opposite.

We are still waiting to learn more about the reported OFAC probe into the Nuestra América Cuba convoy, which Fox says involves as many as 40 Americans, including Hasan Piker.

But this is the “journalism” Hasan is going to point to as proof that his Cuba trip was legitimate.

The medical missions are presented as pure humanitarian virtue, with no serious scrutiny of the forced-labor allegations, how much of the doctors’ pay the regime keeps, or whether host countries are receiving fully accredited care.

Cuba’s blackout-ridden, Soviet-era power grid becomes a story about American cruelty and heroic solar panels from China, not the regime’s decades of mismanagement.

The medical “miracle cures” get the soft-touch treatment too, with no real interrogation of what has actually been proven, what is still experimental, and what is just regime hype.

And the doc literally ends with a close-up on The People’s Forum, CODEPINK, a Fidel Castro billboard reading “Fidel, faithful to your legacy,” as Hasan repeats the revolutionary slogan “Patria o muerte, venceremos.”

But wait, there’s more. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

Almost 15% of the entire documentary is just Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Carlos F. de Cossio, talking largely uninterrupted.
May 27 5 tweets 2 min read
🚨 Manolo’s Cuba “Aid” Pitch Turns Into a Call for Political Upheaval Inside America

In an interview yesterday from Havana, The People’s Forum executive director Manolo de los Santos essentially said material aid is not what Cuba needs most right now.

What will “help Cuba the most,” he says, is “massive mobilization” inside the United States to “change the reality within the United States.” He says that would also help Mexico, Iran, and “the people of the world.”

You need a far-left dictionary to know what Manolo means by “massive mobilization” and “reality,” but he is pretty clearly calling for a mass uprising to change America’s political reality. This fits Manolo’s broader thesis. America has mass mobilizations, but never the revolution, because there is no vanguard to discipline the chaos and turn it into power.

That sounds insane to say out loud, but listen to him say it himself.
May 25 5 tweets 2 min read
🚨 Hasan Names Singham, PSL, ANSWER, and Code Pink in One Breath

On stream today, Hasan Piker discussed the reported Treasury scrutiny and said the broader target is “probably Singham” and “his operation,” naming PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation), ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink, and “anything that he has ever financed.”

He then acknowledged that Roy Singham lives in China and has been “a funding vehicle” for political movements and activism in the United States.

That is exactly why this matters.

This was never just about one influencer’s Cuba trip. It is about the Singham-linked ecosystem, the groups it funds, the delegations it supports, and the political operations built around them.

Hasan didn’t refute the network. He mapped it. Singham usually stays far from the public-facing side of the operation. His influence runs through subordinates, funding channels, and the groups orbiting his network.

That’s why it stands out when people inside that ecosystem mention him directly.
May 25 6 tweets 3 min read
🧵 Medea Benjamin of Code Pink is reportedly on the subpoena list over the Nuestra América Cuba convoy, and honestly, I would love to know the finances behind what she says here.

In one clip, she says you can’t blame the Cuban government until the “blockade” is lifted, encourages Americans to travel to Cuba and spend money, praises Cuba’s China-backed solar buildout, directs donations to Global Health Partners, Code Pink, and Pastors for Peace, invokes Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, touts Cuba’s medical system, and says there is “no reason” to treat Cuba differently just because it is communist.

She also says they have been sending “thousands of pounds” of medicine and food every two weeks, with another 2,500 pounds going out.

That is exactly the kind of thing investigators should want to understand. Who funded it? Who bought it? Who transported it? Who received it? What licenses covered it? And how much money moved through this “humanitarian” pipeline?

Stick around for some Medea lore and other fascinating moments. Medea Benjamin says she first went to Cuba in 1979, ended up living there for three years, married a Cuban, and had a child there.

She says Cuban doctors told her there was “no malnutrition in Cuba,” that Cuba’s problem was “obesity,” and that the only “malnourished” child she saw was supposedly her own.

Then she calls the late 1970s and 1980s Cuba’s “good old days,” when Soviet support helped counteract U.S. sanctions.

This is the lens she brings to Cuba, not skepticism, not accountability, but decades of revolutionary nostalgia.
May 24 5 tweets 3 min read
🚨 BREAKING: Hasan Piker addressed the reported Treasury investigation on his livestream, and even he admits the news is “not great.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you guys. It’s not great. The news is not great, OK? I mean, it’s bullshit, but still not great that they’re after your boy. They’re up my ass.”

He then joked with viewers chanting “free me,” responding:

“Free me, free me. I can’t believe I’m saying that.”

For all the bravado, Hasan clearly understands this is serious. Hasan Piker says he found out about the reported federal subpoena from a Fox News producer, not from the government.

According to Hasan, he got a voicemail saying he had been subpoenaed and asking for comment. Before he could respond, the article was already on the timeline.

“I got a text message, or rather a voicemail, from a Fox News producer saying that I had been subpoenaed by the federal government.”

“Before I could even respond to the journalist, an article materialized on the timeline.”“Let’s just say that kind of fucked my whole night up.”

The funniest part is that even after learning he was reportedly in federal subpoena territory, Hasan says he still made time for “a little tub sesh.”
May 24 5 tweets 3 min read
Now that Treasury is reportedly probing Medea Benjamin and Hasan Piker over the Cuba convoy, Medea’s own report-back from the Nuestra América Convoy deserves another look.

The reported probe is tied to possible Cuba sanctions and travel violations, with OFAC involved. And in barely three minutes, Medea practically narrates the subpoena checklist herself:

A planning meeting in Colombia with Progressive International’s David Adler and other activists. Gaza flotilla veterans. Fourteen to twenty tons of aid. More shipments coming. Solar panels. Pacemakers. Travel pipelines into Cuba. And explicit encouragement for Americans to go there and spend dollars.

Then come the little IYKYK details: praise for Gerardo Hernández of the Cuban Five, plus solidarity and travel coordination with ICAP.

By their own telling, this was never just “humanitarian aid.” It was material aid, travel, money, propaganda, and political coordination wrapped into one Cuba operation. You might be asking: “The Colombia meeting?”

Benjamin is referring to this wild Progressive International gathering in Colombia — the kind of event that brought together DSA electeds, Bill de Blasio, and a broader cast of the international left.
May 16 9 tweets 7 min read
🧵 What a rough night for Nithya Raman.

Hasan Piker put the LA mayoral candidate and DSA member through a full-on struggle session over her record, repeatedly pressing her to explain where she had fallen short of the movement line.

And honestly, even as a conservative, I felt bad for her. This was brutal.

One flashpoint was a DSA criticism over Raman’s role in a city resolution tied to the UTLA BDS fight. But the exchange was bigger than that. This was not a good-faith interview. It was an ideological audit.

Raman mostly tried to answer politically. She came to DSA through housing and homelessness, said this was not her area of expertise, said she had learned more, and promised she was “committed to learning more.”

Stick around for more, because by the end of this even Hasan’s chat wanted his head. This is where Piker's “interview” really became a purity test.

“Do you believe Israel has a right to exist in its current form as an ethnostate that’s currently being investigated for genocide at the International Court of Justice?”

Raman answered, “Yes, I do believe that Israel has a right to exist,” but added that she wants countries to operate “without apartheid” and “with equality in their borders.”

Hasan immediately followed up: “Do you believe that Israel is an apartheid state then?”

Raman said, “I think that it is, yeah.”

Then Hasan brought up her 2024 censure from DSA-LA over accepting the Democrats for Israel LA endorsement, asking whether, “knowing what we know now and seeing the videos of Gaza in ruins,” she would still seek it out.

Raman said, “I wouldn’t seek it out now,” pointed to her ceasefire resolution, and then tried to bring the conversation back to what a mayor actually does: keeping Angelenos safe, protecting protest rights, and pushing back against both antisemitism and Islamophobia.
May 12 4 tweets 2 min read
🚨 Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez says her office built a “community defense network” to respond to federal immigration raids.

She also says her office invested $500,000 in rental assistance and $400,000 in food assistance, argues DSA should become a bigger “political home,” and claims LA activists were “literally battling to prevent martial law.”

At a recent DSA-LA panel, “socialists in office” from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minnesota explained how they use public office to advance movement politics, anti-ICE organizing, mutual aid, and attacks on the Democratic establishment.

I break it all down in my latest for @CityJournal! These officials aren’t just doing constituent service. They’re using public office to build and protect DSA-aligned movements, steering resources, legal support, and government legitimacy toward a narrower activist base. That’s clientelism. city-journal.org/article/democr…
May 11 4 tweets 2 min read
📰 My latest for @CityJournal!

Sunrise’s rebrand is not subtle. The group now wants to build the “muscle of non-cooperation,” escalate student walkouts, target companies linked to ICE, and move toward mass student strikes in 2027 and a general strike in 2028. @CityJournal I’ve been buried and haven’t had time to cut a promo video for this article.

It’s a great look at where the Sunrise Movement is in 2026. Climate activism has taken a back seat to “getting rid of the authoritarian government we’re in.” city-journal.org/article/sunris…
May 9 9 tweets 8 min read
🧵DSA-LA’s 2026 voter guide is not just a list of endorsements. It is full of dirty laundry and ruthless pragmatism.

They recommend Nithya Raman for mayor over DSA member Rae Huang, even after admitting DSA-LA previously censured Raman for accepting a pro-Israel Democratic club endorsement.

They frame Marissa Roy as their first citywide power play, celebrate Eunisses Hernandez as the anti-LAPD model of socialist electoralism, praise Hugo Soto-Martinez’s “co-governance,” and describe Faizah Malik’s opponent Traci Park as “a nexus point of every working class enemy interest in LA.”Image It certainly says a lot that @spencerpratt’s section in DSA-LA’s Primary Election Voter Guide focuses more on The Hills than on his actual platform.

DSA-LA does not refute Spencer Pratt’s ideas. It doesn't even mention them. Instead, the guide treats him like a pop-culture punchline because engaging his actual message would mean admitting he is speaking to real frustration in Los Angeles politics.

And that treatment appears to be unique. Other candidates get ideological labels, policy summaries, donor analysis, and strategic assessments. Pratt gets reality TV jokes, an AARP bit, and a hat joke.

But the funny part is that Pratt’s rise is still forcing DSA-LA into a tactical corner. Their own guide admits he is polling high enough to make the runoff, and that if he does, Karen Bass is probably cruising to a second term.

So after all the internal drama, the straw poll, and the obvious discomfort with Nithya Raman, DSA-LA still lands on Raman because Pratt has made the math unavoidable. They may mock him, but they are also reacting to him.Image
Image
May 2 8 tweets 6 min read
🚨 BREAKING: “Death to America” Comes to @virginia_tech

At Virginia Tech tonight, Mohamed Abdou opened his “Death to the Akademy” speech by declaring, “We are in a war, a racial religious war since 1492.”

He told students America is “the larger monster,” praised “General Sinwar,” called October 7 the “blessed day of Al-Aqsa Flood,” and said jihad can mean defending life “using the sword.”

Then he praised students as “a branch of the resistance” and said they were recognized as “a branch of the mujahideen.”

And when he explained “Death to America,” he was explicit.

“When we say Death to America, we mean, and loud and clear, a total end to U.S. empire. The destruction of this crusading settler colony, their entire project.”

Virginia Tech spent the last few days insisting this event was not happening. It happened. And this is what was said.

Stick around, because there is a lot more to unpack. We are not even halfway through his speech yet. Attention: @CACIIntl, @SystemsPlanning, @MITREcorp, @LeidosInc, @northropgrumman, and @LockheedMartin.

You all have documented partnerships, funding relationships, or national-security recruiting pipelines with Virginia Tech.

You may want to know what Mohamed Abdou told students there.

He urged people to “halt the weapons industry,” “destroy locally where you are at,” and disrupt “every single choke point” and “every single supply chain bottleneck” by “all means necessary.”

Why should any defense contractor keep investing in a university that is trying to downplay this?
May 1 4 tweets 2 min read
🚨 BREAKING: Far-left May Day agitators are shutting down major roadways across Washington, D.C.

Blocking highways isn’t “peaceful protest.” It’s organized coercion through public disruption. This is what civil terrorism looks like. “This is what democracy looks like,” according to Free DC: blocking roads so ordinary people can’t get to work.

They say they’re trying to “end the occupation,” raise awareness for May Day, and push D.C. statehood.

Instead, they’re staging a little occupation of their own.
Apr 29 4 tweets 2 min read
🚨 At The People’s Forum, Mohsen Mahdawi Says Social Media Built the Pro-Palestinian Movement’s “Infrastructure,” Calls It a “New Revolution”

Former Columbia encampment leader Mohsen Mahdawi, whose path to a Columbia philosophy degree stretched from his 2014 arrival in the U.S. to his 2025 graduation, spoke at The People’s Forum earlier this week.

Mahdawi described social media as one of the pro-Palestinian movement’s most powerful achievements. He said the movement has built an “infrastructure” through social media that lets activists bypass mass media, share information directly, and decide where to focus their energy.

Mahdawi later framed social media as part of a “new revolution” in campaigning: a way to “present yourself,” “combat big money” and “AIPAC money,” and speak “your truth” against established institutions.

His praise for Hasan Piker fits into that analysis too. Mahdawi called Hasan “a force” who helped bring many people together, even though Hasan ultimately skipped the event over safety concerns. Remember, Mahdawi presents himself as a prime mover of the Palestinian movement at Columbia, with organizing plans that he says predated October 7.
Apr 20 4 tweets 2 min read
🚨 Podcast with Nearly 100K Followers Cheers Attacks on Sam Altman’s Home, Swoons Over Alleged Arsonist, Recasts MLK as Turning Toward Violence

It might seem strange to spend time on podcast clips like this, but this is exactly how extremism gets normalized.

The Loud & Gay Show is not merely reacting to the attacks on Sam Altman’s house. The hosts are openly cheering them on. One host, Noa, says “That’s even better” at the possibility of multiple attacks, then adds that it would be “funnier” if one person saw the first attack and decided “that’s a great idea.”

It gets even more grotesque when the conversation turns to the warehouse arsonist. After describing the fire and the scale of the damage, guest Lily Eagla starts gushing over Chamel Abdulkarim’s appearance, saying he had “beautiful large eyebrows like you [co-host Rob Apollo] and Luigi Mangione.”

They then slide straight into historical revisionism, claiming that “the non-violence approach only works if there is a violent arm” and suggesting MLK was basically moving toward “we gotta start smoking [shooting]” people before “they shot him.”

This is information warfare. It is propaganda dressed up as podcast chatter that normalizes political violence, romanticizes arson, and launders militant politics through irony. Wild that something like this is casually hosted on @YouTube. Lily Eagla is also worth noting here. She recently traveled to Cuba with The People’s Forum and openly identifies herself as a propagandist.
Apr 16 9 tweets 4 min read
📰 My latest for @CityJournal!

Far-left activists are targeting Palantir in city after city. In Denver, 44 weeks of sustained protests and pressure helped drive the company out of Colorado. Now radical organizers across the country want to replicate that success. I’m incredibly excited for you all to read this article. It builds on much of my previous work covering these groups and how they operate. For those who read my work regularly, very little here will come as a surprise. city-journal.org/article/palant…